In
April,we will come Marva Dawn as our first guest lecturer for the year.
You may not have heard of her before and for that reason may not have paid
much attention to the publicity on her courses. (We fervently hope this
isnít so!)
However, one thingís for sure. The issues Marva
will be addressing are so central to the Christian life and character that
we all need to halt our steps and take a second look. For she will deal
with the very thing that marks the people of God as distinct from all others
- Sabbath-keeping.
So, in anticipation of the soul-searching and mind-expansion
that normally occur when a BGST course is conducted, we would like to encourage
you to begin, even now, to ask your questions about this issue of finding
rest and celebrating the abundant life that Jesus promised us.
Join us in looking forward to Marvaís visit with us and to the enrichment
we can all enjoy in her company. (PK)

In recent weeks Dr Quek was part of a three-man ATA team to accredit
new programmes and reaccredit programmes at the Singapore Bible College.

Chapel this week will be on Wednesday, 28 February, at 12 p.m. Dr
Bryan Hardman, former Dean of DTC, will be our speaker. We welcome you
to join us.

In keeping with BGSTís desire to keep lay people abreast of the latest
scholarship, both good and bad, Good Books this week addresses an important
area of theology. For liberal scholarship "man" had become the centre of
theology, when God should properly stand at the centre. I have chosen a
book to direct your attention to this issue. It also reinforces the recent
course by Prof. J. W. Maris on "Man Ė Created in the Image of God".
Robert H. Gundry has written some very helpful books.
His earlier book, A Survey of the New Testament (Paternoster, 1970) preceded
Soma in Biblical Theology, with emphasis on Pauline Anthropology (Cambridge,
1976, now a Zondervan reprint, 1987), was widely used in seminaries as
a textbook. This book takes to task the idea that "body" (soma) stands
for the whole person of man (a metonymy) rather than a part of man (a synecdoche).
It was brave of Gundry to take on a whole phalanx
of scholars with the likes of Rudolph Bultmann, Johannes Weiss (Bultmannís
teacher), X. Léon-Dufour, L.Cerfaux, and in the English-speaking
world, J. A. T. Robinson, W. D. Stacey, M. E. Dahl, A. M. Hunter, and others.
The general conclusion is that man does not have
a body, but is body. This scholarly nonsense, when repeated often enough,
has won consensus among most New Testament scholars. Gundryís book redresses
this need. Interested readers may skip the occasional untranslated German
and Greek phrases and sentences and still find this book helpful. (QSH)

Our speaker this Wednesday was Mr. Dennis Yeo, who haslived for many years
in South Carolina, but who visits Singapore every year. His text was Jos.
3:1-6. He began by quoting the saying, ĎIf you donít know where you are
going, any way will doí; which is another way of saying, If you donít know
where you are going, then you wonít know the way.í And if you donít know
where youíve come from either, then you are truly lost. But that is the
position of many in the world today: not knowing why they are in their
present position, and not knowing the way ahead.
In Joshua 3 the Israelites were being told to step
out into a future that would be different from anything they had known:
they had Ďnever been this way beforeí (v. 4). But they were not going without
a guide, for God had promised to lead them. What was required of the Israelites
was that they should follow wherever God led.
So in this passage the ark sets out at the head of the people as they
prepare to cross the Jordan. Maybe BGST students are in a similar situation:
on the brink of a new phase in their lives, and needing to remind themselves
that their first commitment should be to follow God wherever he calls.

The contents of ark are
significant: the pot of manna, which speaks of Godís provision for his
people; Aaronís rod, which symbolises Godís protection and authentification
of his servants (Nu. 17); and the two tablets of the law, which Israel
was called upon to obey in everything she did. The ark, then, was a symbol
both of Godís commitment to his people, and of his peopleís obligation
to live lives of obedience.What about today? Many societies provide sad
testimony to what happens when Godís laws are ignored. Our task is to uphold
the authority of Godís word: the battle for the word of God may take different
forms as the decades pass, but it is essentially the same battle. We must
be unswerving in our commitment to the Saviour who declared that he was
Ďthe way, the truth, and the lifeí (John 14:6). (PES)

"Donít find fault. Find a remedy."

- Henry Ford

"The frightening fact about heredity and environment is that we parents
provide both."

- Notebook of a Printer

"In our play we reveal what kind of people we are."

- Ovid

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."

- Victor Borge

"It is painful to think how often we neglect our children, and then labour
with agonizing prayer and heroic appeal for the conversion of men and women."

- F. B. Meyer

"Every generation is convinced there has been a deplorable breakdown of
manners."

- Byron Dobell

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly
endless."

- Mother Teresa

"Anytime you think you have influence, try ordering around someone elseís
dog."

-The Cockle Bur

We wish all these who celebrate their birthdays this week Godís richest
blessings

Some words
from Mrs S.M. Peck on :The weather ... Is spring here yet? No, no amount of my asking
can hasten what God has ordained. That actually is wonderful assurance
Ė that He is in absolute control! The birds think that spring is here though.
They have been encouraging me to go out and enjoy the sun. I would except
the sun is not hot sunshine and the winds are still blowing.

Physical appearance ... I am still my shapeless wrapped-up self
although temperature has gone up to as high as 5-7 degrees. Good thing
I am so short. Otherwise I can be mistaken for a pillar by the roadside!

Work ... Cataloguing in the library has kept me busy when I am
not doing something else like sewing a table-cloth for the dining table.
Itís fun getting back to library work. I do need wisdom with some of those
books. Would appreciate your prayer support in this area. I need to understand
the main users and their needs so that the collection is organized to cater
to them. Right now, we have identical books placed under different numbers.
"No can do" in a small un-automated library!

Studies ... Both the Hebrew and geography courses will begin
next week. I am wondering if I will fall asleep in class. Havenít attended
classes for a long time. Now if I have some Ďsng-buayí ... .My application
for the geography course in Jerusalem University College in May requires
a medical examination (actually I am only 7 years overage). I wish that
there are other ways to convince people that I am physically fit (more
or less) and can walk (definitely)! I have been walking for hours at a
time and those who have been here will know that it is either going up
or coming down! Still there is that verse about submitting to authority
Ö

Orienteering ... Last Sunday I took the wrong bus to church and
became familiar with another part of the city. That was good. Perhaps I
should take wrong buses more often? My city map is pretty worn out by now
but it has been fun walking and looking and listening and getting to know
places.

Sight-seeing ... Went to join a walking tour of the Old City.
The three-hour walk was well worth the $10. The guide was pleased with
many questions and though not religious, he recognized that this was Godís
land and he belonged to Godís people. Strange dichotomy. I got to see parts
I had not been to before. As for the people, they were more concerned with
business than whether you were Jew or Arab. It was quiet and many shops
were closed. The guide said that the shopkeepers were doubtful if even
the Easter season would bring tourists back. For us it was a good time.
With no crowds, we were able to stop and look at the different kinds of
architecture on different buildings.

(There is more .... but alas, space is limited. Do continue to keep
Mrs Peck in your prayers as she spends her sabbatical in this significant
way in this significant city. You may write her at this address: peck_sm@
yahoo.com)